Birthrights (7 page)

“Oh, that's Seth. He's no vamp, he's just my boss'
boss. He's the one who gave me the ticket.” Jax rolled her eyes and
turned her back towards him, continuing to dance with her two
drinks. “He may be cute, but he‘s an arrogant son of a bitch.”

“Oh, okay, well the way he kept looking over, all
psycho-stalker like, he was creeping me out, so I thought I would
check.”

Jax laughed at Caislyn’s all too appropriate
description, "I wish I had an observant friend like you when when I
lived in Raleigh. I might not have had such a crappy time!" She
held up one of her drinks as an offering to Caislyn and asked,
“Hey, you want a drink?”

Caislyn giggled at Jax, but declined. She looked
around, feeling as though they were still being watched. She no
longer saw the vamp that had given Jax her ticket, but that prickly
sensation on the back of her neck had gone into overdrive. She then
noticed others who had began circling the dance floor. They
reminded her of sharks circling their prey.

“Umm, Jax,” Caislyn started to say.

“I don't feel good about being here anymore.” Jax
held up her drink and continued, “What's in these things?”

“I don't think it's the drinks. Look.”

“Look at what?” Jax took a look around the dance
floor and noticed the sharks circling too. Panic nearly set in,
until she remembered she had a blade or two hidden on her. Then she
simply looked back at Caislyn.

Caislyn noticed Seth coming through the crowd towards
them and saw him mouth something to her, but she couldn’t hear
it.

“Run?” Jaxon questioned, “who said to run?” Jax asked
Caislyn.

“Oh shit! Let's go. Come on, I saw some back stairs
over by the bar.” Caislyn and Jax made their way through the dance
floor over to the back stairwell. As they ran into the stairwell,
they noticed a commotion coming up the stairs from the lower
floors. The girls ran up the stairs toward the roof access. Once on
the roof, Caislyn felt like she has seen this image before. She
realized too late that this was the scene from the sketches she had
been making over the past couple of months. “Shit, I should have
known better than to go up!”

“Yeah, cause unless you can fly, we're trapped. So
now what?” Jaxon thought about the knives she had hidden and
realized they wouldn’t really help with the vampires that had
chased them up to the roof. All they would do was piss a vamp
off.

The two of them backed themselves up to the ledge of
the building looking to see if there was a safe place to jump
down, a fire escape, something.

Jaxon looked down the building, noted there wasn‘t an
escape route then she looked back at Caislyn, “Uh Uh! There's no
way I can make that jump, do you see these heels? Besides, it‘s way
too high and I don‘t fancy another trip to the hospital.” Jax
pointed to her boots and then looked back up accusingly at Caislyn,
“What do they want anyway? What have you done?”

“Nothing,” Caislyn began as the roof top door burst
open and out flowed an angry looking clan of vampires. 

The vamp in the black leather pants and doc marten's
stepped forward, "How do you like 12 now, bitch?" 

“Shit!” Caislyn grabbed hold of Jaxon's arm and
looked over the edge of the building to the alley beneath them
wishing there was a way down. No sooner than she thought about
needing a way down than she blinked her eyes open and Jaxon and
Caislyn were standing in the alley.

“You can fly!" Jaxon looked wide-eyed towards
Caislyn, “What was in those damn drinks? Damn, I always choose red.
Couldn't choose the blue drink and wake up in my own bed could
I?”

“What the hell?” Caislyn looked at Jax wondering what
she was talking about.

“You know, like in that movie?” Jax attempted to
explain.

“No, I meant how the hell did we get down here?”
Caislyn was questioning whether Jaxon had something to do with the
unusual form of transportation that had just placed them in the
alley. “Never mind, let's worry about the details later. We need to
get out of here.”

Caislyn lead Jax through the alley and out to the
street. They turned right and began to head to Caislyn's apartment
over the Hidden Dimensions Book Store when Jax chimed in, “But
my apartment is the other way.”

“Trust me we will be safer at my place.”

“Uh, I hope it's not much further because they are
right on our ass!”

Caislyn turned to see how many vampires were
following behind when she saw two of them snatched into the air and
thrown like rag dolls back towards the alley. She also noted two
vamps going down, looking as if they had been tripped. Caislyn
remembered that was the entrance Gregore was working and she smiled
inside knowing he tried to help.

“Just run,” she yelled at Jax as they both pick up
there speed.

The girls approached the book store and Caislyn
mumbled a spell that automatically opened the shop doors for them.
They immediately ran through and Caislyn slammed the door shut
behind them. “Keep going to the back of the store. The stairs to my
apartment are back there.” Caislyn turned momentarily at the door
and looked back out at the street. She didn’t see anyone out there,
but she felt an odd compulsion to go back to the rave for some
reason. She resisted it and turned to follow Jax upstairs to the
apartment.

***

Picturing the Future

Jax didn't question her new friend's command and
continued to run toward the stairs. The girls found their way up to
the third floor apartment, breathlessly closing the door behind
them as they entered.

“What if they get in, we have to hide!” Jax
panted.

“It's okay, we are safe in here.”

“But there’s no lock, they can get in.”

“No, it's really okay, I have wards up. They are
better than locks any day.” Caislyn told her bluntly.

“Oh we have something like that at work, I think.”
Jaxon didn't seem to sure of herself and Caislyn looked at her
wondering what she was. Certainly, she couldn't be a witch or any
other magical being if she didn't know about wards.

Jaxon stared at Caislyn and said, “You're a witch!
That's how you got us down from the roof, but wait, I thought you
needed a broom for that. Did I miss the broom?”

“Did you what?” Caislyn looked at Jaxon and said, “I
didn't get us down from the roof, I thought you did. And yes, I am
a witch, aren't you?”

“Umm, no! No, I'm not and no, I definitely didn't!”
Jax looked at Caislyn again, waiting for an explanation.

“Well what are you then?”

“Duh, I'm human!” Jax rolled her eyes at Caislyn then
started to wander around the apartment nervously.

Caislyn followed slightly behind her and continued
the questioning, “Wait, but you can't be human, otherwise, you
couldn't have gotten into the rave. Only non-humans could get the
tickets.” Caislyn continued to follow Jax through her apartment,
“I've never seen a vampire get so pissed because he got turned
down, but they totally ruined my chances to question anyone about
my parents.”

“I was given the ticket by that guy from work and why
would you go to rave to ask questions about your parents?” Jax gave
Caislyn a screwy look and then continued to look around the
apartment. She was drawn to some sketches that were hanging on the
far wall. As she got closer to the sketches, she took note that
they were very well drawn.

“My parents disappeared a year ago. I had a lead that
someone at the rave knew something. I guess now I will never
know.”

“Who took your parents? And why didn't you just tell
the police about the lead?” Jax looked at Caislyn again, “Maybe
they were trying to take you too? That's probably why Mr. 12 Year
Old Vamp got his buddies to chase us, they wanted to get you.”

“Long story short? The police didn't help before.
They stopped about two weeks after my parents disappeared.”

“I'm not surprised.” Jaxon interjected. At the look
she got from Caislyn she added, “Sorry, I'm a bit jaded when it
comes to law enforcement actually helping the victims.”

“Me too! I've always thought the government was
involved in some way, or something. That vamp wasn't bad enough to
take my parents, he needed to get his buddies involved with us over
a bruised ego. You know men and their insecurities. They follow you
into un-death too I suppose. Did you recognize any of them?”
Caislyn questioned, still wondering what Jax was.

Jax raised an eyebrow as she looked back at
Caislyn “Why would I know any vampires? Oh, wait! You can't
possible think that I'm a vampire. Just because I'm pale doesn't
make me want to drink blood! I mean really, eww!”

“Well, we got off that rooftop somehow. I just
figured you, I don't know, jumped.” Caislyn replied.

“Hello! What part of ‘human’ do you not understand? I
know being a witch makes you special and all, but I would think you
of all people would know that humans could not jump like that!
Besides – you were the one that flew us off the roof.”

“Well I know being ‘human’ might make you ignorant,
but witches do not “fly” off roofs!” Caislyn's frustration began to
seep out, making her pace back and forth.

Jaxon shook her head a bit and turned back toward the
wall of sketches. They were all done in charcoals or pencils, each
having a different scene. The pictures looked so real that Jax was
drawn to each of them, wondering who the artist was and what
inspired such emotion.

She stopped suddenly, a particular one near the
bottom catching her eye.“Wait,” Jax touched the penciled sketch
lightly with a trembling finger, “this is me, us, on that roof
top.”

Caislyn walked over to the wall to see what sketch
Jax was talking about and realized that it was the one that she had
drawn on the full moon.
　

“It was you. You were the reason I was supposed to be
at that rave tonight.”

“Say what? Me? Huh?” Jax blinked her confusion. “How
do you have a sketch of me, when we just met?”

“I did that sketch on the full moon. Look at the
date. After I did the ritual.” Caislyn explained.

“Whoa. Ritual? Okay, now I'm feeling a little
squeamish.” Jaxon had begun backing away from Caislyn.

Caislyn sighed. “Ah, Gods. Humans! I am an auto
sketcher. I sketch my visions or dreams and most of the time they
come true. And rituals aren't bad. I mean they can be, but not all
rituals are bad. It depends on what the intentions behind them are.
Magic isn't good or bad, it’s the user that determines the results.
“

Jax raised her eyebrow again “And your intentions
were...”

Caislyn gave a mischievous grin “Just stand
right there, don't move...”

Jaxon's eyes grew wide, “Why?”

Caislyn laughed. “I was trying to find my
parents!! What did you think my intentions were! I did a ritual to
ask for help in finding my parents, and what I got was you.”

Jaxon stared at her new acquaintance, trying to
piece together all this information. “Okay, what do you mean you
got me? I didn't have anything to do with your parents
disappearing. I'm just an art sales consultant.”

“No, there's more to you. You got into a non-human
rave and we teleported off a roof top together. There's no way you
are just human.”

Jaxon's brow furrowed and confusion was obvious on
her face. “Teleport? What are you talking about? I'm human.
Always have been and unless bitten by something furry or
fang-filled, I'm staying that way. Here look, my license says I'm a
donor.” Jaxon pointed to the little red heart on her card, “you
only get those if you are human.”

Caislyn took the license and looked at it. “But I
don't understand.”

Jaxon put her license back in her pocket and took her
jacket off. “Maybe I'm here to help you in some other fashion,” she
finished as she turned to go sit on the couch.

“Hey wait, what's that on your shoulder?” Caislyn
asked.

“Huh? Oh, you mean my birthmark?” she turned and let
Caislyn take a closer look.

The intricately designed mark took up most of Jaxon's
shoulder blade. It was a web of different symbols completely woven
together to make up a unique brand all together.

Caislyn remarked “I've seen this somewhere
before.”

“Um, yea obviously you've seen a lot before,” Jax
replied as she pointed to the sketches.

“Funny. But seriously, I've seen this somewhere. I
think in a book. Come on, it’s downstairs.”

The girls went back down the stairwell and through
the door that lead them into the store. They meandered through the
stacks of books and over to the counter where Caislyn began
searching through the books until she found the one she was
looking for. “I swear I've seen that mark, recently, so it must be
over here.”

Jaxon meandered around the store looking at the
different titles and authors. “Wow, this place is really cool. Is
this how you learned to be a witch?”

“I didn't learn to be a witch. I was born that way. I
just learned to use my gifts. And yes, my mother and father used
many of the books to help me learn,” Caislyn said quietly. The
mention of her parents brought about a sadness in her voice.

Jaxon could sense the loss of Caislyn's parents
weighing on her new friend. It was like a heavy coat of wool lying
across her entire being.

“Wait, here it is. I knew I saw it somewhere,”
Caislyn held the book out to Jax.

A small black and white picture showed the exact
design that was on Jaxon's shoulder. The caption underneath
stating, “The brand of this ancient lineage of witches is thought
to be an extinct line. Many philosophers believe this family was to
have bore one of the witches mentioned in the Seers Prophecy. In
order for that to be true the line cannot be extinct, but rather
hidden.”

Jaxon and Caislyn stood there looking at the book and
then at each other. “Human huh?” Caislyn questioned.